EXCLUSIVE: Duke Lacrosse Player Speaks Out for First Time

May 3, 2006

Page 2 of 2

All Team Members Involved -- Emotionally

The player said he wasn't relieved that he wasn't accused in the case.

"People ask me, you know, 'Were you satisfied and happy that it wasn't you that was indicted, you know, when the two players were indicted?'" he said. "Not really. Because, you know, those are like family and it's still just as upsetting."

Team members have remained in regular contact as daily developments in the case have unfolded.

"We're all involved emotionally," he said."We're on the team. … I think a lot of us just want to know what's going on all the time. A lot of us, still, we call these guys every day to see how they're doing. We just try to stay involved as much as possible, with the whole situation."

Sticking Together

The player said that his team was tight-knit and that it was the "nature of team sports" to support one another in times of crisis.

"When you do go through those experiences, you do sweat, you do cry, you do bleed with 46 other guys," he said."That type of camaraderie and brotherhood develops, it's not a bad thing in my opinion that we're always together, [and] we're like any fraternity on campus."

On Monday, a committee chosen by Duke University to evaluate the lacrosse program and its relationship to the rest of the university recommended that the team return to the playing field next season, under stricter supervision.

"I think everyone's coming back," the player said.

Asked whether there was one thing he and his teammates wanted the public to know, the player said, "Innocent until proven guilty."